Meating the Market forum draws interest from small and boutique animal suppliers looking to build a supply chain in central Queensland

The Meating the Market forum, supported by local, state and federal government, and organised by Queensland Goat producers, welcomed more than 125 people at the Central Queensland Livestock Exchange facility at Gracemere on Saturday.

People in attendance included small and boutique animal producers, processors, distributors and industry representatives interested in developing the local domestic market supply chain.

If successful, the multi-species facility would be established in close proximity to Rockhampton or the Capricorn Coast area.

Dairy goat and milk-fed pork producers Kylie Hopkins and her partner Leo Thompson, run their small business Datadoo Anglo Nubians, from their farm near Rockhampton in central Queensland.

The couple supply their dairy milk products and milk-fed pork into their local market through their local butcher, Richo's Quality Meats in Northside Plaza, Rockhampton.

They also retail their own Goat soap, which they sell locally and online across the country.

They use fresh goat milk to produce young goat meat between September to January and milk-fed pork between March to May, each year.

Ms Hopkins said their products are seasonal so availability and timing varied each year.

"We've only got a small herd and mostly what we sell are breeding animals, so seedstock to other dairies and breeders, but as a kind of by product of that, we have a lot of milk that we can use to do other things, so we do sell local goat meat, and milk fed pork," she said.

"It's only a very small amount, because we're only small producers, but it's definitely a seasonal product, so to speak, like we only that product available at certain times of the year."

When they decide to cull their animals for market, Ms Hopkins said they have to transport their animals over to Monto Meats, where they slaughter the animals and then the carcasses come back on cold transport.

The whole carcass then goes to their butcher shop and the butcher breaks into the cuts that their customers want.

From their farm in Rockhampton to the slaughter house in Monto, the round trip takes approximately six hours in total.

Ms Hopkins said a processing facility in the Rockhampton or Capricorn Coast district would be beneficial to local small producers wanting a service closer to home and to their desired market.

"(A processing facility) closer to home would be great because we don't have the food miles involved with the product," she said.

"Though, we have absolutely no problems with the service that Monto Meats provides for us, they've been excellent to work with and they do a really good job.

"But I think the the sort of consensus from the forum was that there are definitely local producers, big and small and with a variety of animals, looking for local facility."

Ms Hopkins said another benefit of having a facility closer to home would be direct to restaurants.

"We've definitely got a bit of a food scene that's growing in Rockhampton and on the Capricorn Coast and there are some really beautiful high end restaurants in particular that I think would happily stock high quality local products," she said.

Because their product is seasonal, Ms Hopkins said if more local producers got involved, there would be a consistent supply to the local market.

"We're a small producer, but if there were more of us or if we were to become a bigger producer, our supply might be more consistent around the year," she said.

"Also, some producers prefer a direct to market option and establishing this facility would also benefit that.

"Meeting the customer that's buying the boxes made from them, so that could still work, if there was a local facility.

"But mostly, I think it's more about giving people some diversity in what they can eat, that's the main thing."

It was also agreed at the forum that the opportunities for a new multi-species facility to be established in CQ would be progressed through five key steps, which were grouped into two stages of work, including stage one - firming up the information and concepts, and stage two, identifying the ownership model.

During the first stage the following would need to be discussed, including identify types and extent of potential demand for new processing services, the potential supply of animals to a new facility, and the options for a processing facility, including information about setup, logistics and costs.

Stage two would include developing the business case and identifying the ownership model.

The forum also discussed the need to form a reference group of interested stakeholders and an action group to progress the design and analysis.

The action group would consist of approximately five to eight members, including four industry representatives including expertise from producers and retail/costumers, two representatives from local government, and one representative from state government.

Expressions of interest would also be sought from the reference group members to be a part of the action group, and a recommendation about the formation and membership of the action group would be made by CQUniversity professors John Rolfe, Delwar Akbar and Dr Simon Quigley.